4287. For as a prince hast thou contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed. That this signifies continual victories in combats as to truths and goods, is evident from the signification of “contending as a prince,” as being to overcome in combats, here in the combats of temptations, for these are what are treated of; and from the signification of “with God and with men” as being as to truths and goods, of which below.

[2] As in the supreme sense the Lord is treated of, it is He who is meant in this sense by “him that contended as a prince with God and men;” for He endured all temptations by His own power, and by means of them conquered the hells; for He admitted all the hells into Himself in their order, yea, even to the angels-of which in the following pages. And He thus reduced into order all things in the heavens and in the hells, and at last glorified Himself, that is, made the Human in Himself Divine.

[3] From this it is manifest that in the supreme sense the Lord is “Jacob” and “Israel” (as shown just above, n. 4286), not only in that He contended as a prince, that is, endured all the combats of temptations, and conquered in them, but in that He also endures them in every man. But see what has been said on these subjects many times before, namely: That the Lord beyond all endured the most grievous temptations (n. 1663, 1668, 1787, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2816): That the Lord fought from Divine love, differently from all men (n. 1690, 1691, 1789, 1812, 1813, 1820): That the Lord fought against hereditary evil from the mother, so that at last He was not her son, although He had no actual evil (n. 1444, 1573, 2025, 2574, 2649, 3318): That the Lord through combats of temptations and continual victories disposed all things into a heavenly form (n. 1928): That by continual victories in the combats of temptations He united the Divine Essence to the Human (n. 1616, 1737, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2500, 2523, 2632, 2776): And that the Lord endures temptations in man, and subjugates evil and the hells (n. 987, 1661, 1692).

[4] That “to contend with God and with men” denotes to be tempted as to truths and as to goods, is a secret which does not appear from the letter. That it was not God with whom Jacob contended must be evident to everyone, and will also appear from the explication below; for it cannot be predicated of any man that he contends with God and prevails. But the internal sense teaches what is here signified by “God” and by “men”—namely, that by “God” is signified truth and by “men” good, and this for the reason that in the internal sense the name “God” signifies truth, and hence that when the subject treated of is truth, this name is used (n. 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822); and that when “man” is mentioned, good is meant. That “man” denotes good is because the Lord is the only man, and because man is called man from Him (see n. 49, 288, 565, 1894); also because from Him heaven is a man, and is called the Grand Man (n. 684, 1276, 3624-3649, 3741-3751).

[5] For this reason the Most Ancient Church also, which was in celestial good, was called “man” (n. 478); and therefore also in the Word, where good is treated of, good is signified by “man,” as in Isaiah:

I will make a man [vir homo] ¹ more rare than gold, and man [homo] than the gold of Ophir (Isaiah 13:12).

The inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few shall be the man [vir homo] left (Isaiah 24:6);

a “man” [vir homo] denotes spiritual good, or the good of truth; a “man” [homo], good.

In the same:

The paths are laid waste, the wayfaring man hath ceased; he hath made vain the covenant, he hath loathed the cities, he regardeth not a man [vir homo] (Isaiah 33:8).

In Jeremiah:

I beheld the earth, and lo it was a void and emptiness, and the heavens, and they had no light; I beheld and lo there was no man, and all the birds of heaven had flown away (Jeremiah 4:23, 25).

In the same:

Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast (Jeremiah 31:27).

In Ezekiel:

Thy merchants with the soul of man and vessels of brass they gave thy trading (Ezekiel 27:13).

In the same:

Ye My flock, the flock of My pasture, ye are man, and I am your God (Ezekiel 34:31).

Again:

The waste cities shall be filled with the flock of man (Ezekiel 36:38).

In these passages “man” [homo] denotes those who are in good, thus good, because man is man from good. But the truth which is from good is called in the Word a “man” [vir homo], and also the “son of man.”

Note a piè di pagina:

2776. And offer him there for a burnt-offering. That this signifies that He should sanctify Himself to the Divine, is evident from the representation of a burnt-offering among the Hebrew nation and in the Jewish church, as being the most holy thing of their worship. There were burnt-offerings and there were sacrifices, and what these represented may be seen above (n. 922, 923, 1823, 2180). Their sanctifications were made by means of them, and hence it is that by “offering up for a burnt-offering” is here signified to be sanctified to the Divine, for the Lord Himself sanctified Himself to the Divine, that is, united His Human to His Divine by the combats and victories of temptations (see n. 1663, 1690, 1691 at the end, 1692, 1737, 1787, 1812, 1813, 1820).

[2] It is a common belief at this day that the burnt-offerings and sacrifices signified the Lord’s passion, and that by this the Lord made expiation for the iniquities of all; indeed, that He took them upon Himself, and thus bore them; and that those who believe are in this manner justified and saved, provided they think, even though it were in the last hour before death, that the Lord suffered for them, no matter how they may have lived during the whole course of their life.

But the case is not really so: the passion of the cross was the extremity of the Lord’s temptation, by which He fully united His Human to His Divine and His Divine to His Human, and thus glorified Himself. This very union is the means by which those who have the faith in Him which is the faith of charity, can be saved. For the supreme Divine Itself could no longer reach to the human race, which had removed itself so far from the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith, that men no longer even acknowledged them, and still less perceived them. In order therefore that the supreme Divine might be able to come down to man in such a state, the Lord came into the world and united His Human to the Divine in Himself; which union could not be effected otherwise than by the most grievous combats of temptations and by victories, and at length by the last, which was that of the cross.

[3] Hence it is that the Lord can from His Divine Human illumine minds, even those far removed from the celestial things of love, provided they are in the faith of charity. For the Lord in the other life appears to the celestial angels as a Sun, and to the spiritual as a Moon (n. 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495), whence comes all the light of heaven. This light of heaven is of such a nature that when it illumines the sight of spirits and angels, it also illumines their understanding at the same time.

This is inherent in that light, so that in heaven so much as anyone has of external light, so much has he of internal light, that is, so much of understanding; which shows wherein the light of heaven differs from the light of the world. It is the Lord’s Divine Human which illuminates both the sight and the understanding of the spiritual; which would not take place if the Lord had not united His Human Essence to His Divine Essence; and if He had not united them, man in the world would no longer have had any capacity of understanding and perceiving what is good and true, nor indeed would a spiritual angel in heaven have had any; so that they would have had nothing of blessedness and happiness, consequently nothing of salvation. From this we can see that the human race could not have been saved unless the Lord had assumed the Human and glorified it.

[4] Hence then anyone may infer what truth there is in the idea that men are saved if they only think from a kind of interior emotion that the Lord suffered for them, and took away their sins, however they may have lived; whereas the light of heaven from the Lord’s Divine Human cannot reach to any but those who live in the good of faith, that is, in charity; or what is the same, those who have conscience. The very plane into which that light can operate, or the receptacle of that light, is the good of faith, or charity, and thus conscience. (That the spiritual have salvation from the Lord’s Divine Human, may be seen above, n. 1043, 2661, 2716, 2718)